GRILLED TOMATO SAUCE + CHICKEN MEATBALLS

'tis the season for healthy eats, delicious RECIPES, and sharing ALL THE GOODS.

For the whole month of December [or D'Anacember as I like to all it, HA. HA. HA] I'll be posting my favorite holiday friendly recipes I've created every Tuesday and Thursday! I'm kicking off the month with this BOMB. AS. HECK. recipe my brother and I cooked up last night that he described as 'soft'—and honestly, soft is exactly what this recipe is. It's light, flavor packed, and has a few layers of flavors!

Don't let the recipe appear to be daunting. I *pinky promise, it's actually really simple. Read it through and you'll see! This dish took us less that 30-35 minutes to cook up! Let's have some fun in the kitchen and let us know when you make these bad boys because we love to see what you babes are cooking up. 

I N G R E D I E N T S

for tomato sauce—makes about 48-ounces

• 3 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, rinsed, grilled, skinned
• 6-8 tablespoons thyme, fresh
• 2 teaspoons pink himalayan salt
• 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 1 red onion, peeled, thin slice
• 1/4 cup red wine

for roasted garlic

• 1 garlic head
• 2 rosemary sprigs, fresh, whole
• 1 teaspoon grapeseed oil

for chicken meatballs

• 2 pounds lean ground chicken, local
• 1 cup spinach, rough chop
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs—I blended up Jilz Gluten Free Crackerz
• 4-6 tablespoons granulated garlic
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon pepper

I N S T R U C T I O N S

1. Preheat grill to high heat.
2. Drizzle tomatoes with 1 tablespoon of oil and place tomatoes on grill. Cover the grill and let cook for 6-8 minutes—or until you see grill marks and skin starts to blister + peel away. Remove from heat, let cool, peel skin.
3. In the meantime, use your fingers to peel away the loose, paper-y, outer layers of around the garlic head. Leave the head intact with all of the cloves attached. Trim about 1/4-inch off the top of the head of garlic to expose to garlic cloves.
4. Wrap the garlic in aluminum foil, place rosemary sprigs inside, and drizzle with oil. Roast on the grill, on high heat—or in oven on 400 degrees F—for 10-15 minutes or until the center clove is tender and the rest of the cloves become golden in color + caramelize. Remove from heat, let cool. Press the from bottom of the head of garlic to push the clove out of the paper, rough chop. Set aside.
5. In the meantime, in a large mixing bowl, add all chicken meatball ingredients and gently combine. Make 1-ounce meatballs and set aside.
6. In a blender, add tomatoes, 6 tablespoons thyme, salt, pepper, and blend until smooth—or blend enough until combined leaving a few chunks! Set aside.
7. In a large sauté pan, and medium heat—add oil, roasted garlic with rosemary sprigs, onion, and cook until onions caramelize and become translucence.
8. Once onions are translucence, deglaze pan with red wine. Turn up the heat, bring liquid to a boil, and stir until the bottom of the pan is clear from browning. Lower heat. Add in tomato sauce and stir to combine.
9. Add in meatballs carefully, turn the heat up to bring mixture to a boil.
10. Toss to coat the meatballs with sauce. Let boil for 1 minute. Lower heat, add in remaining thyme, and let mixture simmer for 5-10 minutes. Serve!

xo,

Hazl